A new DNA study of the iconic Australian marsupial shows Tasmanian tigers were in poor genetic health tens of thousands of years before humans came along and hunted them to extinction.

Or so the scientists say. If I were a betting man, I'd have a small wager this elusive animal is still alive in very small numbers both in Tassie and on the mainland. The number of reported sightings over the years lends weight to the thylacine having survived. And there are likely to be just as many observations that go unreported. Not everybody wants to put up their hand and be counted!